Maurice Geary

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Maurice (Mo) Geary , a Michigan socialist, died December 29th 2009, from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was 88 years old.

Background

Maurice Geary was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1921. His family moved to Michigan in 1930. He received a doctorate in educational sociology from Wayne State University. He taught at Wayne County Community College for many years and was a "proud member" of the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan.

Prior to his career in education, Geary was a Catholic priest for twenty-three years. He held degrees from both University of Detroit and Catholic University. In 1966, as a direct result of his "opposition to racism and advocacy for open housing in Detroit", Geary was forced out of his parish (St. David’s Catholic Church in Detroit) and eventually from the priesthood altogether.[1]

Activism

Geary marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King. He protested the Vietnam War. He was a lifelong socialist who served on Detroit DSA’s executive board for the last six years. Mo was politically active until the end. He distributed DSA literature recently at a local theater during a showing of the new Michael Moore movie “Capitalism: A Love Story.”